Are European Capital Flows Climate-Proof?

Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) is one of the flagship steel plants of the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), located in the Indian state of Orissa. It currently has the capacity to produce 1.9 MT of steel p.a. – but plans to modernise and more than double its capacity to 4.2 MT. The plans involve modifying the existing units as well as building new ones. To that purpose SAIL obtained new loans worth more than Rs. 75 billion (more than €1 billion) in 2008-09 Various services, including the installation of mechanical components for a new blast furnace, project management and training are being supplied by a Dutch company, Danieli Corus BV. Atradius DSB has provided export credit insurance to Danieli Corus BV to cover just over €62.5 million through a guarantee with the State Bank of India1.

The modernisation and expansion of the plant will enable some technological changes, which the company claims will reduce the CO2 emissions per tonne of crude steel production. However, given the expansion of operating scale both the actual pollution load and greenhouse gas emissions will increase. RSP admits to increased emissions of about 2.5 tonnes/hr of major pollutants – Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM), Sulphur Oxides (SOx) and Nitrogen Oxides (NOx). Taking a, relatively low, global benchmark of 1.7 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of crude steel2 , the likely carbon emission of the expanded plant is estimated to be around 7.14 MT CO2 per annum. Read Report